Infinite DC

“…Antelope, Guggenheim, Albert, Salami, Giggly, Jumpy, Tom, Thomas, Tambourine, Leg Face McCullen, Artichoke, Penguin, Pete, Steve – but I think the very worst name for this frog is—”

“Wait,” said a worried Wirt. “Wait a second.”

He walked so far into the dark, eerie forest with his preoccupied little half-brother Greg and his new pet frog that he disregarded to keep up with their path.

Thunder rang through the skies, the telltale sign of an approaching storm.

Owls perched from the trees hooted, and other varieties of critters chittered.

It all uneased Wirt more than the harsh reality of being lost.

“Uh, Greg? Where are we?”

“In the woods.”

“I mean…what are we doing out here?”

“We’re walking home.”

Wirt’s heart raced. “Greg, I think we’re lost. We should have left a trail or something.”

“I can leave a trail of candy from my pants.”

Enthusiastic by his idea, Greg reached into his lime green overalls and retrieved two piece of candy, dropping it to the ground.

“No,” sighed Wirt. “Though I am lost, my wounded heart resides back home, in pieces, strewn about the graveyard of my lost love, for only—”

His monologue came to an abrupt end once he and Greg heard the barbaric screams of two men fighting in the distance.

Lighting shot out from ground level.

“Whoa!” Greg gleefully exclaimed. “I never knew lightning could do that!”

“No, no I don’t think it’s supposed to, Greg.” Wirt fretted at the unearthly display. “H-How about we just…just run!”

Taking Greg by his hand, Wirt led him and his pet frog into the opposite direction of the abnormal battle happening afar.

In their haste, they passed a shrubbery.

Greg perceived a faint golden glow irradiating from it.

He wriggled out of Wirt’s sweaty grip, scurrying to the bushes.

“Greg? Greg! What are you doing?”

“I see something shimmering in the bushes. Over here.”

Wirt joined with him, helping brush back the branches to uncover the shining object: the body of a young Asian woman lying on the ground.

The glow Greg detected a moment ago irradiated from the woman’s olive skin, until it fizzed out the second they discovered her.

“It’s…I-It’s…a girl,” Wirt distinguished.

“Is she some type of ninja?” Greg indicated the tattered lime green karate gi the woman wore, with a blue sash draping from shoulder to hip. “It’s all ripped up, too. What happened to her? Was she involved in that lightning fight back there?”

“I guess.” Wirt said.

A loud, raspy gasp sounded out of the woman, startling the two boys.

“Don’t kill me! Please!” She howled.

“N-N-No one’s going to kill you!” Wirt assured. “I promise!”

And, just like that, the woman’s demeanor changed from terror to serenity.

“That’s comforting,” she remarked. “I’d rather not die again, thank you.”

Wirt grimaced questionably. “Die again? What do you—?”

The skies boomed more fiercely with thunder.

They overheard wood crackling before another body joined beside the Asian American woman – a battered, bruised, and bloodied man wearing a straw coolie hat.

“RAIDEN!” She yelled out his name in immeasurable concern.

Surprisingly, the man recovered from his wounds rather quickly.

“RUN!” He ordered.

The earth quaked.

Wirt and Greg froze with fear.

There, not far from them, stood a four-armed, red-eyed creature that tore through trees as if they were stage props. Emerging into the clearing, it bellowed in a voice that was as monstrous as its appearance, “I will annihilate you and your Earthrealm defender, Elder God!”

“Then bring it, Goro,” challenged the Asian American woman, showing herself from the shrubbery. “I’m ready for the next round!”

“I do not know you, feeble woman!” The creature (Goro) responded. “But I will kill you all the same!”

Raiden hoisted himself up alongside the female contender. “I know not where you come from. But I cannot allow your foolishness to endanger yourself or these children.”

Raising a fist in the air, the Elder God conjured a bolt of lightning from the sky that struck him, the woman, and the two boys, but did no harm to them. Instead, it evaporated them, leaving not a single trace.

Goro growled to the heavens in defeat.

“I will find you all,” he brutishly swore.

“CORRECTION: I WILL FIND THEM!”

Hearing the bizarre, automated voice shriek from behind, Goro turned and was flummoxed by the alien construct that so boldly addressed him.

“What are you?!”

The mysterious woman hunched over in pain, soon after their arrival to a lakeside clearing, via Raiden’s teleportation. A sensation akin to knives jutted through her chest and stomach came and went every few minutes.

“Ohh, man,” she groaned. “I forget sometimes what a literal pain in the butt regeneration can be.”

“Regeneration,” Raiden pensively echoed. “Who are you? Where is Margie? And why are you dressed like her?”

“I am her,” she told him. “I wasn’t very open with you about my true self during the tournament. I’m a Time Lady from Gallifrey, and my real name is Neas. I only passed myself off as an Earth human because I wanted to prove myself worthy of being a hero again.”

Raiden pondered on her reasoning. “This shapeshifting ability you possess…it is very much like…” Struck with revelation, the Elder God broke into fighting stance, electricity sparkling ferociously from his clenched fists. “Of course! I should have known you to be Shang Tsung this entire time!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” She promptly protested. “I’m not Shang Tsung! I don’t actually change my face at will – only when I’m severely injured or on the verge of death do I regenerate…change into a different person. When I was Margie, and Goro beat me to a pulp, I got so damaged that I just had to change, or else I would’ve died.”

Wirt and Greg witnessed this exchange intently. It was so much like something out of a film that they could not turn away before finding out what would happen next.

Raiden remained skeptical of this enigmatic woman’s explanation.

In the heat of the moment, she doubled over again by the lake, coughing out a golden mist of energy.

It was a trait uncommon from Shang Tsung and enough to convince Raiden of the woman’s story. His body relaxed, his fists unclenched, and the electricity extinguished.

In her huddled position over the lake, the woman saw her new face looking back at her for the first time. “This regeneration is way more ethnic than the last,” she curiously reflected. “Definitely Asian, presumably a hint of German from the skin coloration, and undeniably American by the accent. Maybe I chose this look from an infatuation with Liu Kang.”

She straightened herself, removing the shirt of her karate gi to expose a black sports bra and defined arms and abdominal muscles.

Wirt shielded Greg’s eyes with his left hand, preventing his little half-brother from seeing the shirtless female.

“Much tighter than the last body, too,” she said, flexing her arms and abs. “Guess I still want myself to be a warrior.”

Greg ducked under Wirt’s hand shield, getting another clear gaze.

“More like a princess warrior,” he flattered.

“Awe, thanks,” she gushed. “I’m gonna need a new name with this body, because I’ve way overgrown ‘Margie.’”

“Aren’t you in luck,” Greg joyously said. “Because I’ve been coming up with names for this frog I found earlier. I can do the same for you.”

Hands on her hips, the woman smiled to the child.

“O.K.,” she permitted. “Hit me.”

Greg moved in closer to her, circling around.

Wirt could only cover his face in embarrassment, allowing his half-brother to proceed with such a scene.

After prolonged consideration, Greg finally settled on “Lindsay.”

Without a second thought, the woman agreed to it.

“I love it,” she approved. “Thanks, lil’ guy.”

“Respectfully, we must dispense of this discussion,” Raiden stepped in. “Goro still hunts for us in this realm. With Marg—Lindsay’s new body, she must defeat him.”

“And I intend on doing just that,” Lindsay proclaimed, “but there’s something first I gotta do.”

From her right pocket, she pulled out a screwdriver-shaped device, aiming it to the air. It whirred, emitting a crimson-colored light from its tip.

Shortly afterward, a heavy humming, grinding sound reverberated over the lakefront.

Wirt, Greg, and Raiden were equally astonished to see a tall, rectangular black solid manifest nearby them.

“Are you certain you are not a sorceress?” Raiden asked.